UConn Women, East Carolina Men Out To Day 1 Leads at American Athletic Conference Championships

Photo Courtesy: American Athletic Conference

SMU’s Bryce Klein and Houston’s Micaela Bouter produced record performances in the diving events to lead their respected teams on Day 1 of the 2016 American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Campus & Wellness Recreation Center Natatorium on the campus of The University of Houston.

Klein captured the men’s 1-meter diving event with a score of 400.55, eclipsing former teammate Devin Burnett’s meet record of 386.80 set in 2014. East Carolina’s Scottie Kent finished runner-up with a score of 323.95 and teammate Zach Duvall rounded out the top three with 292.25.

Bouter claimed the women’s 3-meter diving event in the final round of competition and surpassed teammate Taylor Olanski’s meet record with a final score of 335.65.The sophomore edged out UConn’s Taryn Urbanus (326.20) and Cougar teammate Danielle Shedd (320.85) to earn the win.

The SMU women’s team swept the relay events on the opening day of competition. The Mustangs defeated the field in the 800 freestyle relay to capture the first event of the championship with a time of 7:12.78. Cincinnati’s Jacqueline Keire made a strong push in the final leg to help the Bearcats take second (7:14.14). In the 200 medley relay, SMU produced the top time for the second consecutive year (1:38.40). East Carolina touched the wall nearly two seconds behind the Mustangs, covering the distance in 1:40.19.

East Carolina defended its title in the men’s 800 freestyle relay with a first-place time of 6:27.91, four-plus seconds faster than the rest of the field. In the men’s 200 medley relay, SMU swam the event in 1:27.49 to edge out the Pirates by two-tenths of a second for the win.

East Carolina is in first place of the four-team men’s field with 128 points after the first day of events, followed by SMU (117), UConn (108) and Cincinnati (71).

The six-team women’s competition has UConn in first place with 116 points. Houston is a close second with 103 points, followed by SMU (84), East Carolina (82), Tulane (79) and Cincinnati (70).

Competition continues on Thursday, with preliminary swimming events starting at 10 a.m. CT, followed by diving preliminaries at 12:30 CT. The finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT.

Author: Jason Marsteller

Jason Marsteller is the general manager of digital properties at Swimming World. He joined Swimming World in June 2006 as the managing editor after previous stints as a media relations professional at Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, Southern Utah University and the Utah Summer Games.